Ben Hurst ’10 made up his mind — he wasn’t going to make sandwiches anymore.

His early search for professional work in the nonprofit industry was unsuccessful and the old summer job assembling subs at a chain sandwich joint was growing stale. He decided to go international with his search and landed on a job teaching English in Japan that he found listed online.

Joseph Meyer of Oregon has created a new energy source and solution to a pair of pollution problems. Mashiad Mostafa and The Ngone Oo of Myanmar have discovered non-chemical ways to enhance a traditional homeopathic mosquito repellent … And they’re not even out of high school yet.

Chimpanzees are a lot like humans, sharing 98 percent of the same DNA and many personality traits. That fact was in evidence in a special multimedia presentation on campus in February by wife-and-husband photography and video team Kristin Mosher ’89 and Bill Wallauer.

For 15 years, Bill followed the wild chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, capturing the intimate details of their daily lives for the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), which is led by renowned primatologist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall.

KaeLyn Rich ’05 has been an advocate for social justice as long as she can remember.

As Genesee Valley chapter director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Rich advocates for women’s, LBGT and immigrant rights among many other social issues.

An English Writing Arts and women’s studies major, she served as co-director of the Women’s Center, treasurer of Vega and cast director of the peer-education theatre troupe Melodramatics.

“I have been attracted toward jobs that allow me to get paid for activism and standing up for justice,” Rich said. “The Women’s Center inspired me to truly do work that I love, that feeds my activist soul.”

After four decades in Snygg Hall, Kenneth Hyde, distinguished teaching professor of chemistry, traded in his course notes for a hammer and level. Retiring after a 43-year career in the classroom, he has a new avocation: fixing up an old camp on the south shore of Skaneateles Lake, where he and his wife will spend time in retirement.

Charles Trabold ’50, M ’53 fell in love with his first wife, the late Nancy Busco Trabold, for her love of life, art and colors. Now he and their three daughters — Marilyn, Lisa Trabold ’04 and Beth — are keeping Nancy’s memory alive by supporting a scholarship for an Oswego female student interested in the fine arts.

They say music is the universal language. From Oswego venues like the DK house or The Patch to a ’70s revue tour of Germany to special events on the U.S. East Coast, Matthew Cutillo ’95 has been making beautiful music in more than one language.